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What would the nearly $100 billion that George, Jr. wants
for continuing operations in Iraq be paying for? One has
to wonder after this story. A group of U.S. soldiers were having
a drunken party at the Baghdad Zoo.
One of the soldiers stupidly forced his way into a tiger cage to try feed it.
When the tiger (not surprisingly) attacked -- injuring the drunken soldier's
hand and arm -- another
soldier shot and killed the rare, 14-year-old Bengal tiger. Zoo officials
said they have no way to stop U.S. forces from holding their
"parties" at the zoo.

Ticketmaster, in an apparent attempt to prove once and for all that
the only aspect of concert-goers they care about is their money,
has announced that it will essentially start scalping tickets
itself -- auctioning off the best seats to the highest bidders --
the sky's the limit! As far as Ticketmaster is concerned,
if you're a fan and you're not rolling in dough, you don't exist.

Looks like Prince Williams might have the attitude it takes to get the old
Tower of London torture chamber out of mothballs, as he demonstrated
by needlessly and inhumanely
killing a 14-inch antelope by skewering it with a spear while on holiday.
I guess that proves he's a real man now!

From the money talks file...
The big pharmaceutical campanies
spent a fortune in campaign contributions -- and
massive lobbying -- to try head off a strong Medicare drug benefit
that might lead the way to lowering the outrageously high drug prices paid by most U.S. patients.
Looks like the drug firms won big. The weak drug benefit emerging is
likely to be cause for celebration at corporate headquarters.

When George, Jr. wants to play jet fighter combat pilot on an aircraft carrier that's
one thing. When his cowboy movie mentality could incite more attacks
on our own troops, that's something else again. "Shameful" is hardly
a strong enough word.

From the trademark madness file...
Sat/Cable network TNN (formerly "The Nashville Network," then
"The National Network") was all set to change their name again, this time
to "Spike TV." Filmmaker Spike Lee got a court injunction blocking
the switch, claiming he owned the rights to the word "Spike." Now TNN
is firing back, with statements from heirs to musical novelty master
Spike Jones, saying that the Jones family also has
rights to the word "Spike," and
that nobody should be able to block its use by others.
Yes, we have no bananas!

In remarks that stunned onlookers at a Senate hearing, Republican Senator
Orrin Hatch said that he'd support the development
of systems to remotely "destroy" the
computers of persons believed to be engaged in
illicit file trading of music or movies, if less drastic measures
don't seem to solve the problem.
For more on this incredibly ludicrous and
dangerous idea, please
hear the short
Fact Squad Radio segment
"Senator Hatch & The Computer
Destroyers!"

While nobody so far has been able to find the Weapons of Mass Destruction
that George, Jr. and Britain's Tony B. claimed were the main reason for
the Iraq war, some searchers might have more luck looking closer to home.
Seems the U.S. Army has patented a new biological warfare weapon
-- possibly ideal for terrorist use -- complete with
descriptions and diagrams. Looks like "intellectual property protection"
will trump "people protection" every time!

George Jr. keeps insisting that his tax cut plan for the rich would
trickle down to ordinary folks. At a recent event pushing his plan,
most of the VIP fat cats behind the President were ordered to
remove their neckties so that they'd look more like the unwashed masses.
Who needs ethics when there's a photo op to stage?

Here we go again. The U.S. supported Osama and Saddam when it seemed
convenient. After 9/11, George, Jr. said that the fight against
terrorism was black and white. Now comes word that his administration
has made a deal with a U.S.-designated Iranian terrorist organization.

From the "no good deed goes unpunished" file... A 22-year-old man risked
his life and saved three children from a burning apartment building, then
was arrested when a deputy recognized him as being wanted for a
parole violation (relating to a burglary conviction) for
missing a meeting with his parole officer last
month.

The brilliant security specialists of Chump, er, that's "Chubb" Protective
Services subjected a 16-year-old Australian girl to humiliation,
and horrified other passengers, by insisting that she remove her obviously
artificial leg at Adelaide Airport. Other youths, some in wheelchairs,
were also subjected to "extra scrutiny" by security drones as they all
returned from the 12th National Junior Games for the Disabled.
Looks like airport security stupidity isn't limited only to here in the U.S.

In the "oops, maybe they should have thought about this first before promoting democracy in Iraq" department,
Bush officials are expressing alarm at the rising fervor of majority Shiite,
fundamentalist Islamic political power in post-war Iraq, and the disdain
that Iraq's population is showing for Bush's hand-picked expatriate leaders.
Will replacing the anti-American,
secular government of Iraq with an anti-American, Islamic theocracy,
end up being George, Jr.'s most memorable contribution to history?

Across the U.S., individuals, municipalities, and a range of
other organizations are beginning to fight back against the
draconian, unconstitutional, and civil rights violating aspects
of the USA Patriot Act and the Homeland Security Act, both passed in
knee-jerk fashion after 9/11.

You've of course seen the photos of the Saddam statue being pulled
down by a crowd of enthusiastic Iraqi citizens, with help
from the U.S. Army. But wait a minute, was it really a spontaneous
crowd? Was it a crowd at all? Or was it a purely manipulated
media event? Some previously unseen photos do indeed appear to
reveal the true story. For additional commentary on this
topic, please see
"Victory on Quicksand".

The makers of French's Mustard have put out a press release reminding
everyone that their founder, R.T. French, and the mustard have nothing
to do with France. With various cretins boycotting anything that
even sounds like it's from France (presumably to try "punish" the country
for refusing to back the U.S.'s attack on Iraq) the company was concerned they
might be caught up in the stupidity.

Various big corporations -- mostly large GOP donors and including the Vice President's
pals at Halliburton -- are using secret bids in their
lust for slices of the massive Iraq rebuilding-contract pie.

It took many years for anti-war protests in the U.S. to grow to very large
levels during the Vietnam war. Protests against the U.S.'s Iraq war, both
in the U.S. and around the world, are already of a scale and staying power that
are surprising observers.

Contrary to the Bush, Jr. White House predictions, most of the world
is not "falling into line" behind Bush's war since the
start of the U.S. attacks. In fact, positions
against the war have been hardening. [registration required]

Nope, not a joke. Scalia said he'd only accept the City Club's Free
Speech Award if all media were excluded from the event. However, the perverse,
inverted logic of his reasoning at least seems to be in line with
many of his court decisions, so you can't say he isn't consistent.

That bastion of progressive thinking, Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia,
declares that most of what we assume are our "rights" aren't listed
in the Constitution, and he's perfectly willing to strip them
away in time of "war" -- presumably including undeclared wars -- the
only kind the U.S. has had since WWII. Looks like the growth stocks might be
companies making barbed and concertina wire for "relocation" camps.

A 23-year-old American woman, protesting the demolition of residences by
the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) in the Gaza Strip, was killed by
an Israeli bulldozer that reportedly refused to stop and ran over her twice.

The Search for Extraterrestrial
Intelligence (SETI) is about to comprehensively investigate the
most interesting
locations for possible intelligent life. No doubt they'll have better
luck in deep space than here on Earth.

Alan Dershowitz proposes "torture warrants" and the use of (for example)
"sterile needles" under fingernails, despite strong evidence that torture
is generally the worst way to get accurate information, and would make
us exactly the evil that our enemies claim we are. There's someplace
else on his body where Alan could put his needles...

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) continues
assuring us that their new CAPPS II system -- for doing background checks on
everyone who flys -- won't invade our privacy or liberties. Many people
remain skeptical, to say the least. "Achtung! Show me your papers!"